1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to agricultural and horticultural tiller apparatus, and more specifically to in-row tillers adapted for three-point hitch mounting on a tractor for tilling between plants or objects in a row.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many years ago, the soil around plants, such as ornamental and wind break trees, fruit trees, grape vines, berry bushes, and the like that were planted in rows, were generally tilled and weeded by hand labor. Then, in the last two to three decades, such hand labor was largely replaced by chemical weed control methods. More recently, within the past several years, there has been a growing recognition that chemical weed control methods have problems of their own and that desirable plant growth suffers where there is inadequate cultivation and aeration. However, while the need for cultivation is again apparent, high labor costs in these modern times makes weeding and cultivation by hand prohibitive. Yet because of the predominate use of chemical herbicides for weed control for so many years, there was a corresponding dearth of new developments in cultivating machinery. An effective cultivator was needed that could till between trees, vines, or bushes planted in a row with automatic controls to avoid damaging the plants as well as responsive manual override controls to maximize speed and cultivation effectiveness. Also, efficient depth control and various pitch adjustments were required to make such an in-row tiller versatile and effective for use on bermed as well as flat areas.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,043, invented by Jack F. Anderson, Clayton Melrose, and Floyd Melrose, issued in 1985, met many of the needs and requirements described above. It included structures and features for very effectively and efficiently performing most necessary and desirable in-row tillage functions in most conditions. However, that advanced invention was in the form of a side-mounted machine, i.e., requiring special mounting brackets and procedures for mounting the machine on the side of a tractor. It became apparent after several years that users needed and wanted in row tiller machines that not only would have essentially all of the beneficial features, sensitivity, responsiveness, and functional effectiveness of the side-mounted machine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,043, but which could also have the convenience of mounting quickly and easily on a standard three-point hitch on the back of a tractor.
There were several earlier three-point hitch mounted rotary tillers, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,138,208, issued to Simms; U.S. Pat. No. 3,419,086, issued to Giusti et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,190,364, issued to Maloney. However, none of these tillers provide all the desired combinations of features, control capabilities, and functions provided in the side-mounted Anderson et al machine of U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,043. More specifically, three-point hitch mounted tiller is desired that provides both lateral tilt and longitudinal pitch adjustment of the tiller, lateral position adjustment from the side of the tractor, longitudinal position adjustment, effective all-hydraulic retraction control with readily useable manual override, snag-free low profile for tilling around low bushy plants, depth control and float capabilities, and effective ground coverage tiller for more complete weed irradication.